Today, choose a memory from your own life, preferably of a deeply felt emotion (i.e. fear, joy, embarrassment, anger, sadness). Now write the experience as fiction, as if it happened or is happening to your character. It can be either in first or third person, past or present tense. It can as close to the facts or as far as you wish, retaining the “truth” of the emotional experience while creating “fiction.”

The heavy metal latch on the back door clicked shut securing both doors, as Dad closed the solid, hinged doors, using as much strength as he could muster up. The combination pad lock was attached and it too, made a loud clicking sound. There was no more room in the moving van for anything else. No more memories would fit inside the U Haul truck. It was time to head down the road. Time for family to depart on a new adventure. Time for a new beginning in a new chapter of life.

The moving van moved slowly down the driveway as Dad struggled with the gears of the large truck. Jill waved from the rolled down window.

Sulking, Sue grabbed her satchel and opened the passenger car door. Mom needed Sue to navigate the family travels. Several folded maps would guide the family during the two day moving adventure.

Somehow this winter day, in January of 1973, seemed surreal. It did not seem quite right for Sue. The caravan of one moving van and the family station wagon headed south, out of town and out of the city. Before long, the travelers would cross over the state border and into Iowa. Looking behind, out of the back window, of the Ford station wagon, Sue waved good bye to family and friends [who remained in her mind and dear to her heart], to the land that she loved, and to the home that she was leaving. Vowing to return, she silently made a wish, that she would one day return to the Midwest.

“Check the map,” Mom ordered. “Hurry! Are we headed in the right direction?” Mom questioned with great uncertainty.

With a sassy attitude, Sue replied, “No, Mom. We are headed south. We need to turn around and go back!”

Reply
Linda M.
Posted July 8, 2014 at 8:14 pm | Permalink
1. what works: love the line: “no more memories would fit inside” That needs to be a whole scene!
folded maps = time/setting before gps. There is a tremendous sense of longing.
2. What doesn’t work/why? –it works. I do want to know more details about Sue that show her mood….was she drawing in the dirt/snow with her toe? Was there a special fragrance of home in the winter time that she was trying to hold onto?
3. if it’s a beginning does it hook?/compel to read more? I want to know why the move during a school year? Mom and Sue have very different views of moving….why? tell us more!

Reply
Dana Kramaroff
Posted July 8, 2014 at 9:15 pm | Permalink
Suzy,
Love the line: No more memories would fit inside the U Haul truck.
Keep up the great work!

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About Prairie Garden Girl

I am a wife who is adored by my Sweet Perry. Together we are parents to five boys and grandparents to seven unique grands. Pa Perry and Oma Sue love instilling the love of learning in the hearts of Johannah, Joshua & Jaxon; Henry & Charlotte and Lily & Lane. I am a reader. I am an aspiring children's picture book writer. I am a creator who sews and paints with acrylics and watercolors and sketches with colored pencil. I am an educator to hundreds of students, throughout the years. I am a cyclist on a pink Marin Portofina, and a 5K jogger. Perry and I are organic gardeners and enjoy homesteading on the Illinois prairie. Life is a beautiful ride with my Sweet P. Together, Perry and I feel life is a journey filled with joy. We want to live our lives by leaving the world a better place.